"The Attorney General has long been an advocate for equal rights for all people and we applaud him for publicly aligning with a fast-growing majority of North Carolinians who now support the legal relationship recognitions between committed LGBT couples," said Sgro.

The attorney general's announcement comes only one day after the North Carolina Family Policy Council - one of several far right-wing groups working against equal rights at the North Carolina General Assembly - announced a protest of the Equality NC Foundation's November 9, Equality Gala where Attorney General Cooper is scheduled to be the keynote speaker.

“The NC Family Policy Council is an extremist group that represents a small minority of North Carolinians. Their attempt to bully our state’s attorney general mirrors their constant efforts to marginalize LGBT North Carolinians. And, as history has consistently proven, these fruitless efforts will not deter a single fair-minded North Carolinian in our collective fight for equality," added Sgro.

Cooper, who is widely expected to run for North Carolina’s gubernatorial seat in 2016 - telling the Asheville Citizen Times on October 5, “It’s a little early to make a formal announcement, but certainly that’s in the plans” - also publicly opposed Amendment One, the state’s 2012 constitutional ban on the freedom to marry currently being challenged in federal court, calling it “unclear, unwise and unnecessary” (http://bit.ly/Ie9DFO).